Vehicle purchases responsible for a large number of bankruptcy cases in Malaysia – one out of every four

As we all know, Malaysians love cars, but it isn’t always a happy tale, that love affair with the automobile. Bankruptcy as a result of the rush to have the latest and brightest metal isn’t as far-fetched as it sounds – according to a news report, one of four bankruptcy cases in the country is caused by the purchase of vehicles.

The Sun reports that between 2011 and 2015, 27.94%, or 28,374 cases, of bankruptcies recorded in the country were related to vehicle purchases. The publication obtained these statistics from a report by the Insolvency Department, which also revealed the other top reasons for bankruptcy.

Housing loans were next on the list, with 21,697 cases making for 21.36% of bankruptcy cases, followed by personal loans (20,727 cases, or 20.41%) and business loans (11,899 cases, or 11.71%). The department said it handled a total of 101,537 cases during the period from 2011 to 2015.

Statistically, the majority of the cases were from Selangor (29,421 cases), followed by the Federal Territory (14,479) and Johor Baru (14,064). Perlis had the lowest number of bankruptcy cases in the five-year period, with 343 cases recorded.

Age-wise, individuals between 35 and 44 years old made up 35.24% of all recorded cases during the period, while those between 25 and 34 years old made up 22.52% of the total. The report added that while there was an increase in cases from 2011 (19,167) to 2014 (22,351 cases), that number dropped in 2015, with 18,547 cases being recorded.

Do you think the obsession we have with new cars has resulted in many spending beyond their means when it comes to vehicle purchases? Share your thoughts with us below.

Anthony Lim believes that nothing is better than a good smoke and a car with character, with good handling aspects being top of the prize heap. Having spent more than a decade and a half with an English tabloid daily never being able to grasp the meaning of brevity or being succinct, he wags his tail furiously at the idea of waffling - in greater detail - about cars and all their intrinsic peculiarities here.

It is a “majority” problem. They love to show off and want to higher to their peers and neighbours all the time. This is why before Raya, very high car sales. After Raya, so many tarik baliks by banks due to defaulters unable to pay. These buyers just wanted to show their kampung folks that they have made it big in the bandar. So, they do all they can to buy any luxury car. Most 2nd hand dealerships also lie about the loan amount and secure 100% loan for these buyers. This is no big secret. Every Malaysian knows about this. It is a pity that this majority cannot live within their means and need to show off that eithet their house or car is better than their peers or neighbours

what guaranteed breakdown somewhere proton? my 1999 wira now almost a year without any problem. This is the problem actually, most of you think it s really worth it to give your hard earned money to japanese or germany friends for the sake of status or bumiputra hate politics

Only our bodoh Government convert. They tell the kampung people here petrol is RM6 per litre in Singapore but in Malaysia it is RM1.70 per litre. Kampung people all bilip. All clap. All syukur

But our bodoh Government fail to tell people, even normal Government servant in Singapore, not high ranking, earning SGD$6000 per month. Here, in Putrajaya, Government servants still earning RM1200 per month

See the typical Proton owner mindset: 1999 Wira almost 12 months no problem, already need to open champagne celebrate. They are always prepared to spend time in garage. Politics or not, the car still break down.

U compare the average rate of salary per person at there then compare the car prices, u will notice the difference. Singaporeans earn much much more than us that’s why their cars are so expensive. Also sg government doesn’t want too many cars to clog the small island so they impose high prices on COE. The actual car prices are actually not that high. Wtf do u know beside voting to BN?

Though many may argue that it is the responsibility of owners to be prudent, ultimately, it is the Government’s fault. You see, if you charge RM1000 for a 5KG rice bag and that is the cheapest rice bag around, you cannot the rakyat if they get into trouble with banks and loans if they cannot pay the loan they took to buy rice. Rice is necessity and staple food.

The same with cars. Government sapu all the money to make better public transport, they hantam the rakyat with 3X global car prices, of course lah, rakyat suffer.

Ultimately, ALL car companies are owned by the Government whether directly or through indirect means. Toyota, Honda, BMW, Hyundai are all buta buta 100% GLC companies. It is the Government that is screwing the rakyat maximum with car prices that is the highest in the world.

To screw the rakyat further, all banks that give car loans are also GLC and Government majority owned.

Then they give us lower quality CKD cars with low safety spec.

So, our Government screws us in 3 ways

1) highest car prices in the world
2) high interest on loans by banks owned by the Government
3) low spec and low quality CKD cars.

Only a real bodoh will say petrol and car prices are higher in Singapore. Singaporeans GDP per capita is 5X that of Malaysia. What this literally means is that, if a Malaysian is earning RM5000, the same Singaporean doing the same job in Singapore is earning RM25,000 per month.

BMW 528i CBU in Singapore is about SGD250,000
BMW 528i CKD in Malaysia is about RM430,000

Which car is cheaper? Forget about COE and all that. on a one to one basis, the Singaporean will pay off his loan much faster cause

You fool, have you ever wondered why it is RM 318k? When SG separated itself with MY, it was 1 SGD to 1 MYR. Today it becomes 1 SGD to 3 MYR that is because current government you supported screwed up managing the country and destroy the welfare of the majority Malaysian.

singapore MRT can reach every where.. the whole island, you try use our LRT or ETS to reach everywhere as daily vehicles ?

Apart from that..Toll charges, if you had not notice, toll charges can sometimes be more expensive than your petrol if you are running around KL/Klang and avoid the jam to conduct bussiness. Go figure it out.

My cousin is a singaporean. She cant afford a car even thought her salary is more than 4k sgd. Anyway, by using public transport, she able to save money for 4-5 times oversea trips per year.In contrast, Malaysian need to spend their money on car loan and maintenance due to shitty public transport system.

you can buy 15-20k car instead. look for car less than 10 years old. look for model that generally have good reliability. look for standard car without any modification. many owner mod their car to look geng, most probably they drive like geng also. i bought 2nd hand wira some years ago, still serve me well until now. small2 breakdown only (aircon compressor, tire, break pad, oil leak at top gasket, absorber bunyi), but can be repair by any workshop under tree with minimal cost. of course manual window. tempted to upgrade, but wait until inspira 1.8 mt price is rm20k la :)

Ya, 5k buys you a 15 years old kancil. I know cause i just sold off my 15 years old kancil for RM 4 k to used car dealer. You will sepnd so much money and time repairing the car and it will not be reliable. I have had my license for 20 years, i have good knowledge on basic car repair and maintenance. It is still a hassle to own a 15 years old car. A 20 yrs old will cry if they drive a RM 5 k car.

My is unique in the world where pipu take up LOAN but feels entitled to think of it as free money or scholarship, even when barely pass exam.
Then dun wanna pay back but have dreams to buy altis topkek spec or superbike just after grad. Dun belip me, see PTPTN loan defaulters tered. Im not surprised that the bankruptcy rate start to shoot up just when PTPTN was introduced.

Probably not the only country. But Americans and Aussies I have met are surprised there are actually long term bank loans to buy cars. Loans in Australia are only for a few years max and it’s considered a bad deal as the interest rate is high. But that’s because cars are cheaper there. Even Protons are cheaper in Australia (Au$ to RM), but they have poor sales

Sometimes, a preowned unit is much more better (sometimes much more safer) than a brand new one if you take your time to search around for the good one. For example, if i don’t mind a used car, i rather choose a well maintained 2012 – 2013 Altis (can get between RM60k – 65k, 1.8G with VSC, cash payment) than a brand new Altaik 1.8G (no VSC, somemore almost impossible to buy cash coz their taik SA will frighten their carbuyers that IRB will go after them if they pay cash)

Plus, in singapore, buying car is an option bcos of how efficient the piblic transport is. Whereas in malaysia, if u dont buy a car or motorcycle at the very least, u think u can really rely on public transport to go to work everyday??

Car is never beyond our means, but the tax is. G and bank make huge money from us as we loan to pay the heavy tax. and proton can’t make their car cheap enough. whatever we pay in tax then pay to proton again.

however, to be fair and smart, it also about the choices we made,
fresh grad having new iphone and new myvi?
we old folks all started with 2nd hand car
its about our choice, no one force you to spend while cant afford..
every generation has their own problem to deal with.

I’m not supporting the govt for jacking up prices of cars. But why not blame yourself for lack of self-control in the first place? Buy used car lah if pocket is shallow, you certainly HAVE A CHOICE bro!

A viva/axia won’t cost more than rm400 per month. For a lower income individual , you can consider a motorcycle , how much it cost again? Don’t put the blame on government when you wanted a “glam” car more than using it as a transport.

yes 100% agree
all this because the bn umno goverment wants to feed this lazy bump malays.so that they can have the finest things in life.deprive the quality of owning quality cars.
to change all that this bn umno must go.enough of this nonsense plus the invention of proton and perodua has further caused Malaysians to suffer forced to buy useless rotten cars for high price and quality cars at extreme high price.thanks to father of corruption mahathir and current king of corruption jibby for rotting the automobile industry.

Vehicles price at Malaysia is very high and expensive. Its way too expensive and contribute to this bankruptcy statistic. Hopefully one day the car prices at Malaysia will be more reasonable. It would be nice to hear if the all new Volvo XC90 to be around 55k in Malaysia..(Jangan haraplaaaa..LOL)..

One of the main reasons that lead to bankruptcy is not highlighted in this article. Let me put it down for you!

The pretentious ones out there. They want a status symbol. In their minds a European car would do the trick. So they get the cheapest VW and Peugeots they can afford. Their crappy purchase breaks down and costs a lot on maintenance.

That leads to bankruptcy. Purchasing a car you can’t afford to maintain.

That’s true. I used to own a VW Scirocco with manual gearbox then one time, I had to change to new gearbox which costed me Rm22k in repairs because VW malaysia voided my warranty claiming that i modified my gearbox to manual despite that i have shown them proof of purchase from Wearnes VW.. When it came down to selling the car imagine another 20-30k have to topup to bank!!!

Young Malaysians are obsessed with pride. That is why they would rather have “muka” or “face” to face their peers by driving new cars knowing that they can’t repay back what they lend/loaned. I would rather put my hard earn money on house/properties that appreciate in value rather than car that depreciate its value the minute you start the engine.

With a 35k deposit & 7.5k basic salary i managed to get a very stylo 250k Conti car at 27yo.Changed to a superb audio system with 6+2 speakers,install whole round skirtings,new Michelin tyres & bigger sport rims totally 30k+.So proud of me to own a much better car than my neighbors & office mates.Traffic jam never made me tension coz all cheap car drivers will envy my car.Who cares about future coz nobody will replace my good job or fire me.Even country in recession i still can live with extravagant coz my company never effected & proven can sustain good money flow,lots projects & strong connection everywhere.Everynite going clubbing park my car at front entrance everyone see my beautiful car,meet my rich frens & enjoy life coz yolo & u not young forever! Life is there to enjoy not to get depress day & night.Why bother bankruptcy coz it just nothing than a simple banking in out money.

Even if you very successful, my sincere advice, don’t simply boast around as life is like wheels (sometime can be up and sometimes can be down) plus most people here don’t like it. Also you never know the next day or two your very stylo 250k Conti car together with yourself will blew up in smoke and burned inside HELL (there’s higher chance it will happen since audio system already modified).

sounds like what has happened to a lot of property agents recently. during property booming, they bought big cars thinking good times will last forever. they can’t sell houses now and car being towed away.

you may have high annual income once or twice. if you average out to 5 years income, you are probably poorest compared to office people. It is not how much you can earn, how long you can earn matters. wahahahaha stupid property agent

Actually it doesn’t matter if the car is expensive or not but how the individual handles his/her household finance. Same with luxury goods and expensive vacations. Spend within your means is the way to go. Showing off now and then going into bankruptcy later is not cool!

Syukur at least bankrup pipu in MY still can live. In SG, all bankrup pipu are made to clean tables & plates in food court cuz need money to survive here.
If no money in SG, dun hope to live until die, PAP wun allow u to do it cuz u no money for funeral! LHL wun pay for u even if u hardcore poor! So they will send all these pipu across border. Ownself pickup shirt.

Coz there is SG people here wanna busy body our forum & talk shit of our country by saying everywhere in bolehland is crap.There living with mrt forever never even push the brake pedal once in lifetime! Hahaha

Becoz u MY pipu worship foreign countries like us too much to see what sacrifices we did to achieve it. U think its all greener here but u dun know its much worse that in MY.
At least in MY, if u stop complaining and work harder, u can achieve something/ live easy. Here u work like a dog to achieve that fable SGD5000 salary and most goes to HCL(high cost living), HDB, COE, ERP, CPF, GST, and PAP. Yeah they comes in threes cuz u have to kerat 2/3 ur income just to pay Gov. And there is no security net for no/low income pipu.

The only gud thing is it makes locals appreciate whatever job they have cuz standing behind them waiting to take over is a China PR holder. Even for jobs cleaning tables & plates.

Many says that the bankruptcy due to car loan was caused by the high car price in Malaysia, but I would say it’s more related to the Malaysian kiasu mindset that wanted a fancy car that they can’t afford. I know too many young graduates who spent 50% of their income to buy the latest Civic or 316i, and then could only afford to rent a RM100 per month flat on top of a shoplot. Talk about priorities?!

no surprises here TBH , most just live beyond their means for show or for auntie,cousin,friends to say”wow,hes driving this car now’…they can afford it in 12/24mnths…after than…ahlongs turn…alot of people live in such a pathetic way its rediculous , why ppl get ashamed when they cant afford sting?? no shame in that…if u can only afford a myvi/saga , thn do go hunting for toyota/honda showrooms , if u can only afford myvi/saga , then be it , its not wrong , dont put everything into the ‘no face’ catagory…most ppl might have education , but they are a victim of their own demanding society…

Even shitty car in Malaysia cost a bomb, Nabillah!! If proton and perodua make good quality cars, u think the people will go for the Japanese cars or above?? are u trying to preach in paultan.org, what a loser LOL

Living within our means is the way to live our life in the real world. But there are many out there are too egoistic to understand that simple statement. Some don’t even have a house of their own, but you see them driving luxury cars as their mode of transportation . They would rather rent a room or a house to be seen driving an economy car. That’s more of a pride and ego issue and if they learn from this painful turn of events, it’s more realistic and comfortable to own cars which will only take up no more than 20% of our disposable income monthly and driving an economy car and living in a self owned property is a smarter choice anytime. That’s my 2 cents on the topic. Cheers!

Reason is due to the existence of Proton. Without Proton car prices will be on par with Australia, Japan, Taiwan etc etc. Thanks to Proton 32 million Malaysians have to pay extreme high prices for good and reliable cars. Even Proton cars itself costs a bomb. Thanks to that IDIOT Proton Creator you know who YOU ARE!! Because of your Proton pet creation we Malaysians have to suffer!!!

Yes, It’s indeed Bakar Manyak Wang (BMW). Also, another ‘popular’ brand that land people into bankruptcy is Toyotaik (buyers already overpaid by another 2 folds of original price other than high excise tax (in fact almost all cars kena this exhorbitant tax), that is ‘T’ logo and to pay extraordinary huge profit margin to their beloved god distributor, UMW or Untung Manyak Wang)

The title needs to be corrected, as in the second paragraph already you’ve revealed that, at 27.94%, it is not the majority reason for bankruptcy. Majority is 50% and above, what you actually meant is leading reason for bankruptcy

Yes, the car prices is high in Malaysia. Been so for quite some time, yet not many people default on car loans 15 years ago when hire purchase was much stricter. Now, we have 0% downpayment and 9 years tenure which causes the bankruptcy to just keeps piling on.

Those that only think of short term enjoyment won’t think twice before buying more expensive cars sadly, to show off. They won’t mind spending 50% of their salaries to service the car loans. When they can’t bear with the debt load anymore (rising living costs, credit cards, mortgage etc.), they will start to miss on monthly instalments for the car loans and leading to their cars being repossessed.

Ageed tht longer loan term is contributing this, but the main issue is the “Shiok Sendiri” attitude, eg driving nice car but cant afford to buy a house. I saw many ppl doing tht..can drive a 2door sportscar but rent house…so funny, they even felt so proud… Another issue that young ppl now seem like to enjoy. Eat at posh cafe, go fitness centre, travel here and there, but earn peanuts and still using parents money!!! And some keep changing jobs in 1 yr…how to pay ur loan like that? Must do something to correct their mindset..

AND, consider the other costs of running a car instead of just the purchase price.

For example in UK. You can get a pretty economical and road tax-free (if it’s green enough) car for £10k or less but your annual road tax premium can rack up in the tens of thousands of pounds EVERY year.

The Government and all stakeholders within this car industry players must review the entire industry from a more comprehensive manner to ensure the industry sustain on long run.

Back in the 70’s and 80’s when our population was growing so did the automation industry.As the Government saw the potential to transform the country to become industrial based and venture into agreement to establish our own automation industry.

As the industry grew The Government wanted to protect the local automation industry it drafted a new policy on tax structure.

Which impacted the industry until today and have create more expensive cars to buy and maintain after that.

It depends on individual capabilities on self sustainability and ensuring invest in something more realistic and within its means.

After scrolling so far down, a large number of people blame it on our high taxes imposed. But while that is undeniable, the spectrum of new cars out there start from the low RM30k range, n that excludes the used car market. So that quite contradicts to the question if those bankrupt due to car loans really didn’t have options when they ‘needed’ a vehicle, or did they just went for the car of their dreams regardless of payment amount and loan service period.

I think those who could not pay were those who bought really expensive cars, not those who buy a car as means of transportation. Come on, can you really go bankrupt over a Myvi or Axia? So in this case, unfair to blame poor public transport (not that I support gov).

cheaper cars won’t resolve anything… it’s just placing more cars on the road and eventually the roads will be SO jammed up you’ll take 2 hours to reach a destination that would usually take 30mins (like Bangkok)

One of the most surprising things for me to see as a foreigner in Malaysia is the 9 year car loans on offer. This is pretty insane and quite sad to see many folks here paying 3 times as much as Europe for a BMW and get crippled financially just to ‘be seen’ driving a continental car.

its the tax imposed that caused the high ends in purchasing of cars, and also the employees from all sectors are working with underpaid salaries….otherwise, do u “idiotic guys” think that the lots of us went bankrupt bcos of car purchases only?

In SG salary is high, in Bolehland employers pay peanuts and prefer foreign workers some more. Then they charge so high, make yuge profits & give to family members and then cheat on paying taxes. That’s why normal people buy axia also can become bankrupt.

Many responses are typical of Malaysian mindset. The post has nothing to do about the government and taxes on cars and public transport etc. We all know about this problem so why make this an excuse for any topic that is posted here in Paul Tan. The simple matter is do Malaysians buy beyond there means? 30% of the responders have answered this question and are probably those that have purchased within. The others are probably a high percentage of those that make up the defaulters based on the comments coming back.

I lived in Australia before. I bought a car for AUD 1100. Plus REGO and road worthy, it cost around 2000 AUD. I drive it around and never feel ashamed of it. Coz left, right, front and back, be it Aussies or foreigners we are drive almost the same car.

The problem is with Malaysian psyche. They not only want new car, but car with style and status. This is the typical asian mentality. Although car in Aussie is cheap, many people don’t buy new car. I heard the same goes for UK. Coz new car is expensive (by their standard) and you lose on depreciation and taxes.

Malaysians are obsessed with new car. The plate number is running like waterfall. Change alphabert every now and then. For them, new car is status. They rather owe bank for 13 by taking a no down payment loan. Worse are those who just got promoted or just earned some extra income from MLM straight away buy BM or Merc. In the end, kena file bankruptcy.

Partly to blame is also the Mahathir legacy. It is not about Proton, but he is the one who introduced scheme which make purchase with loan as easy as ABC. No downpayment to buy car. RM 1000 deposit to buy houses that cost hundreds of thousand. In the end, the entire system is corrupted. The law of supply demand is circumvented. The result is what we are facing today.

Couldn’t agree more. Not just car, even houses, gadgets like smartphones or even an android chromecast or apple tv. It has to do with state of mind. Already knew they gonna lose 20% once driven out of showroom. But die die also buy new, tho there are cars which is 1 – 2 years old, and a lot still with warranty. SOme will think eww, someone sat there, used it before etc.

When I came back from Australia, I bought a one and half year hold Hyundai Elantra. The price was 53K. New one 88K. I saved more than 30k for a one and half year old car. The car is as good as new. Been using it for almost 10 years and still going good.

Do you really think it’s that if the car price is lower, these ‘bankrupt’ people due to hire purchase will buy the same car?. If they are willing to go no holds barred to get themselves Honda Civic although their salary is just RM3000 per month, what makes you think they won’t choose BMW 3 series at the same price although now they can get a Honda Civic at let say RM60-80K?.

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